Area of research

Summary

Professor Munafò’s research focuses on understanding pathways into, and the consequences of, health behaviours and mental health, with a particular focus on tobacco and alcohol use. This work incudes: 1) observational and genetic epidemiology, and the use of a range of methods that enable stronger causal inference from observational data, such as negative control and Mendelian randomization methods; 2) the laboratory study of cognitive and neurobiological mechanistic pathways that underpin exposure-outcome relationships; and 3) the development of novel individual- and population-level interventions that target these mechanisms, including choice architecture interventions. This work has informed ongoing policy debates, such as the introduction of standardised (“plain”) packaging for tobacco products. He also has interests in the role of incentive structures in science, and the extent to which these shape the robustness and reproducibility of scientific research.

Biography

Professor of Biological Psychology, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol (2010-present)

Reader in Biological Psychology, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol (2007-2010)

Lecturer, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol (2005-2007)

Visiting Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania (2004-2005)

Research Fellow, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Oxford (1999-2005)

Keywords

Addiction

Nicotine

Alcohol

Expertise

Current research is in the area of the genetic determinants of addictive behaviours, in particular alcohol and nicotine use, and in the role of human personality in explaining the association between genetic variation and addictive behaviours.